Portable refrigerant recovery units or carts are used in connection with the service and maintenance of refrigeration systems, such as a vehicle's air conditioning system. The refrigerant recovery unit connects to the air conditioning system of the vehicle to recover refrigerant out of the system, separate out oil and contaminants from the refrigerant in order to recycle the refrigerant, and recharge the system with additional refrigerant.
New refrigeration systems generally utilize newer types of refrigerants while older systems typically utilize older types of refrigerants. Unfortunately, these newer and older refrigerants are generally incompatible and, furthermore, the respective oils are incompatible as well. As such, the refrigerant recovery unit is thoroughly flushed before transitioning from servicing a refrigeration system with one type of refrigerant to servicing a refrigeration system with another type of refrigerant. However, due to the difficulties in flushing oils from the service hoses, the flushing procedure is time consuming and can potentially lead to contamination of the refrigeration system.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a device and method capable of overcoming the disadvantages described herein at least to some extent.